Some conventional casting or molding machines include a single plunger rod that moves and packs material into a mold using force. In some cases, material to be melted can be provided in pre-molded form, known as an ingot. An ingot can be introduced into a melting zone of a machine via a loading port or a plunger rod. Each time the material is to be melted, an ingot can be loaded manually by an operator. However, it would be beneficial to have a mechanism that is designed to automatically load material for melting (and subsequent molding).
Design of an automated loading mechanism for ingot materials requires unique considerations which are dependent on mechanisms and hardware of the molding machine it is used with.